Dover Air Force Base hockey team, Flyers alumni play for charity

The Dover Eagles and the Flyers Alumni hockey teams pose for a photo after their Apr. 12 charity hockey game at the Pond Ice Arena in Newark, Del. This was the third and final charity game of the season for the Eagles. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class William Johnson)(Photo: AIRMAN 1st CLASS WILLIAM R. JOHNSON/U.S. AIR FORCE)

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Given the opponent, I guess a 21-1 defeat counts as a respectable loss. Besides, for many if not all members of the Dover Air Force Base Eagles team, it was the equivalent of hockey fantasy camp - albeit in three tough periods.

Both the Eagles and the Philadelphia Flyers Alumni Team also raised money for some excellent causes.

Put yourself in the Dover players' skates. Former Flyers who played in the Apr. 12 game at Pond Ice Arena in Newark included two members of the infamous "Broad Street Bullies" - Bob "Houndog" Kelly, left wing and enforcer, and Joe Watson, defenseman - the Flyers' back-to-back Stanley Cup championship teams of 1974 and 1975. Others included five-time NHL All-Star Brian Propp, Mark Freer, Andre Faust, Frank "The Animal" Bialowas, and others.

According to Watson, cited in an Air Force story by Airman 1st Class Zachary Cacicia of 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs, the team has lost only four times.

No former pros on the Dover team, apparently.

So, like we said, a respectable loss. And the teams raised $2,400, split between the Fisher House Foundation and Flyer Alumni charities.

"We play a lot of games for charities throughout the area, and we always like to get out to support worthy causes," Watson said. "This is our military and it's nice to be involved, trying to help them out with what they're trying to accomplish."

This was the last of three charity games that the Dover Eagles played this season. On Jan. 26, $1,130 was raised for wounded Delaware police officers, sheriff deputies and state police officers, in a game that pitted them against the Fraternal Order of Police hockey team that ended in a dramatic 9-9 tie. On March 23, the Eagles fell to the UD Blue Hens - an American Collegiate Hockey Association Men's Division 2 team - in a 16-5 defeat that raised $3,200 for the Fisher House Foundation.

Despite the blowout, getting to play the former Flyers was a thrill, the players said.

"This was one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences - being able to come out and skate with these guys that have skated their whole lives and have played professionally," said Matthew Lothrop, Eagles center and captain. "I couldn't have asked for more. Losing or winning, it was all for charity."